Remote Installation Services

Remote Installation Services

Remote Installation Services (RIS) is an optional component that is included in the Microsoft® Windows Server 2003™ family operating systems.

You can use RIS to create installation images of operating systems or of complete computer configurations, including desktop settings and applications. You can then make these installation images available to users at client computers. You can also specify which RIS server will provide installations to a given client computer, or you can allow any RIS server to provide the installation.

When you use RIS, a CD-ROM is not required for installation of an operating system on a client computer. The client computers must support remote booting with the Pre-Boot eXecution Environment (PXE) ROM, or they must be started with a remote-startup floppy disk and contain a network adapter that is supported by that disk.

You can use RIS to create automated installation images of Windows Server 2003 family operating systems, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.